Scientists recently collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in waterways south of Chicago, although the fish have yet to be spotted in the area, said Maj. Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

If the feared bighead and silver carp have got through the $9 million barrier, the only remaining obstacle between the carp and Lake Michigan is a navigational lock on the Calumet River. Some DNA was found as close as 1 mile south of the lock and 8 miles south of the lake.

Still, federal officials insisted a Great Lakes invasion was not inevitable.

"We're going to keep throwing everything we possibly can at them to keep them out," said Cameron Davis, senior Great Lakes adviser to Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms into the Mississippi River during 1990s flooding and have been migrating northward since.

The monstrous creatures can exceed 4 feet long and 100 pounds. They consume up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, starving out smaller and less aggressive competitors.

Aside from decimating species prized by anglers and commercial fishers, Asian carp are known to leap from the water at the sound of passing motors and sometimes collide with boaters.

It is not known how the carp would fare in the chilly Great Lakes, which are different ecosystems than rivers, Davis said.

A worst-case scenario envisions them spreading "like a cancer cell," he said, eventually dominating a fishery already damaged by zebra mussels, sea lamprey and other exotic pests.

In 2002, the Army Corps placed an electronic device on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a man-made waterway south of the city that forms part of a linkage between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan.

A second, more powerful device went online this year. Both emit electrical pulses designed to repel the carp or give them a non-lethal jolt.

David Lodge, a University of Notre Dame invasive species expert, confirmed the presence of DNA of bighead and silver carp in the Cal-Sag Channel, between the canal to the Calumet River and in the river itself, which flows into Lake Michigan.

Further testing will be done in the area, said Col. Vincent Quarles, the Army Corps' Chicago district commander.

The newer electronic device is scheduled to be deactivated for maintenance in early December. Officials plan then to treat a 6-mile section of the canal with a fish toxin called rotenone to prevent Asian carp from advancing.

Environmental groups called for tougher action, including closure of all Illinois gateways and locks leading to Lake Michigan. That would draw opposition from barge companies that haul cargo on the canal.

"If we don't close the locks, we are waving the white flag and allowing one of the greatest ecological tragedies to occur," said Jennifer Nalbone of Great Lakes United.

Even if the carp reach the lake, it might be possible to limit their spread with methods such as sterilization.

"We should not assume that all is lost," Lodge said.

©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Here's why: Since April 1, new auditing rules have made it easier for newspapers to count a reader as a paying customer.

These looser standards are especially helpful to a newspaper if it sells an "electronic edition." That can include a subscriber-only Web site, such as what The Wall Street Journal has, or it can be a digital replica of a newspaper's printed product. Several dozen publications, including USA Today, sell access to these daily "e-editions" that show how the news was laid out in print.

Under the new auditing standards, if a newspaper sells a "bundled" subscription to both the print and electronic editions, the publication is often allowed to count that subscriber twice.

If not for these rules, the industry's numbers would look even worse. Average weekday circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers fell 10.6 percent during the six months ending in September. That was the steepest decline ever recorded by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the organization that verifies how many people are paying to read publications.

It's not clear what the numbers would have been under the old auditing standards. But the effects of the new rules were widespread. There were 59 newspapers that listed at least 5,000 electronic editions in their weekday circulations, according to an Associated Press review of the figures filed with the ABC for the April-September period. In all but a few instances, the number of electronic subscribers was substantially higher than a year ago.

The decline in newspaper circulation has several causes. Many publications have intentionally reduced the range of their deliveries, cutting out exurbs or distant parts of their states where they sold relatively few copies. Higher prices for home delivery and newsstand copies also have driven some readers away. Publishers are betting they can keep their most loyal readers and are charging them more to help offset their crumbling ad sales — the main source of newspaper revenue.

Nevertheless, many newspapers are still offering discounts to bolster their circulation so they don't risk losing even more advertising revenue. The size of the audience is one factor marketers consider when they buy ads.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal was among the newspapers whose weekday circulation rose from the same time last year. Nevada's largest newspaper saw its average weekday circulation rise 6.6 percent, or nearly 11,000 subscribers, to 175,841. It was a remarkable improvement, given that weekday sales of its print edition fell by 12,000 copies and Las Vegas ranks among the cities hardest hit by the Great Recession.

How did it happen? The Review-Journal's circulation this year included 23,132 electronic editions compared with just 511 at the same time last year.

The big difference didn't occur because that many more people suddenly decided to buy the Review-Journal's digital replica of its print edition.

The change happened because the price the newspaper was charging for the online replica — it costs print customers an extra 50 cents per week — hadn't been high enough to qualify as paid circulation until the ABC's April change. That let newspapers define their paying readers as anyone who spends at least a penny for a copy. Previously, a newspaper copy had to sell for at least 25 percent of the basic price to qualify as paid circulation.

The ABC said it changed the rules to reduce its auditing costs and "provide greater pricing and marketing flexibility" for publishers.

Steve Coffeen, the Review-Journal's circulation director, said it makes sense to count the bundled subscriptions twice, as well as other people buying the electronic edition at a sharp discount, because it provides a complete picture of the newspaper's paying audience. Advertisers generally prize readers who pay for a publication, reasoning they are more likely to peruse it.

"It's important to show advertisers we are fighting the good fight and using other platforms to reach readers," Coffeen said.

That rationale makes sense to Randy Novak, director of newspaper strategy for NSA Media, one of the nation's largest buyers of newspaper ads. He doesn't see much difference between readers who are getting the newspaper at a deep discount or the standard price. He wants to reach people who care enough about the newspaper to be willing to pay for it at all.

However, another big buyer of newspaper ads says the new ABC rules made the reported circulation numbers less credible.

"You really have to do your homework now and ask newspapers about how much double counting is going on," said Allison Howald, U.S. director of print investment at PHD Media.

A surge in digital sales propelled the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania to a 16.5 percent increase in weekday circulation — the highest among dailies selling at least 50,000 copies. The Daily Record listed 10,073 electronic editions in its latest circulation of 55,370. At the same time last year it counted just 42 electronic editions in its circulation of 47,549.

In most cases, the electronic edition is a replica of the printed product, right down to the ads. The technology even makes it possible to simulate the act of turning the pages of a paper edition. Most electronic editions are sold at a small fraction of the price for the printed edition, partly because publishers don't have to pay for newsprint or fuel to deliver the copy.

Web subscriptions were pivotal in The Wall Street Journal's growth over the past decade. The digital sales are the main reason that the Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling U.S. newspaper in the April-September period. USA Today, owned by Gannett Co., still holds the edge in print circulation.

The Journal charges its print subscribers an additional 40 cents per week for unrestricted access to its Web site. Journal spokesman Robert Christie wouldn't comment on whether the new rules for counting subscribers contributed to a 14 percent increase in the newspaper's 407,002 digital subscribers. Including the print side, the Journal's total circulation edged up by just 0.6 percent to 2.02 million.

"We followed the ABC's rules and methodology," Christie said.

Some newspapers that posted circulation gains say they are picking up readers who feel abandoned by bigger publications. Cutbacks at newspapers in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., contributed to most of the 2 percent increase at the 70,000-circulation Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee, said Publisher Tom Griscom. "We are keeping an eye on print and not letting it drift away," Griscom said.

A reduced emphasis on print at The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, which now deliver to homes only three days a week, also helped Michigan's Oakland Press increase its weekday circulation 7 percent to 68,067. But electronic sales were the main factor. The newspaper listed 6,500 more electronic editions in its latest circulation numbers than it did a year ago, offsetting a slight decline in print.

©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Nutter joined Bloomberg Friday for some community service in the Bronx, but he had to wear a Yankees jersey while doing it.

Bloomberg and Nutter made a wager that said the loser had to come to the winner's city to do a community service project, while wearing the jersey of the winning team.

So they helped paint walls in a hallway at a junior high school in the Bronx. Nutter wore no. 55 — honoring World Series Most Valuable Player Hideki Matsui.

Bloomberg wore no. 27, which marks the Yankees' 27th World Series win.

Nutter said he will still help to paint a mural with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

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Navy Reserve officials said Friday that 37-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Patton died Nov. 19 in a non-combat accident in Kuwait. Lt. Cmdr. Doug Gabos says Patton was attached to the Law and Order Detachment working as a military police officer supporting the war in Iraq.

Pennsylvania corrections officials say Patton had worked as a corrections officer at the state prison in Dallas, Luzerne County, for the last four years.

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In an opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo says former Luzerne County Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella are entitled to partial immunity from civil lawsuits filed by former juvenile defendants.

Saying he realizes his decision will be unpopular, Caputo says the doctrine of judicial immunity requires him to shield the judges from civil liability for any actions they took from the bench.

However, Caputo says the judges can still be sued for their actions off the bench.

Conahan and Ciavarella have both pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges.

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A passage in the 58-page document distributed to union members and posted on the Web site of the York Daily Record includes a pledge to "discontinue current work" to relocate its largest motorcycle assembly plant to an alternate site in Kentucky.

A union vote on the proposed agreement was scheduled for Dec. 2. Harley-Davidson spokesman Bob Klein said the company will decide after that vote whether it will stay in York.

Scrambling to adjust to steep sales declines, the Milwaukee-based company said in May it would look to relocate a plant that is too inefficient and costly.

Already this year, it has laid off more than 600 workers there. A statement from the company Friday indicated it plans to further reduce the hourly work force at the York plant, currently 1,950 people.

"A restructured York operation would be leaner and focused on assembly, metal fabrication and paint, with an hourly unionized work force expected to be about 1,000 employees," the company's statement said.

The York plant consists of two motorcycle factories that assemble its Touring and Softail motorcycles.

Union negotiator Tom Santone told The York Dispatch that he believes the contract contains enough cost savings to compel the company to keep the plant in York.

Klein declined to comment on details of the contract proposal, but said Harley-Davidson is seeking to cut $120 million to $150 million companywide through 2014.

Company officials visited sites in Kentucky, Tennessee and a couple of other states in recent months to scout other potential locations. To encourage Harley-Davidson to stay, Gov. Ed Rendell offered about $15 million in incentives.

Earlier this month, Harley-Davidson said a site in Shelbyville, Ky., was the only other location it was considering. On Thursday, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear reacted to news of the tentative labor agreement by saying the likelihood of his state's landing the plant was "significantly diminished."

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Police in Warren, Pa. on Friday charged Lindsay Head, 22, with publicly displaying obscene material. She will be mailed a summons to appear before a district judge in Warren, which is about 110 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, police said.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate a phone number or attorney for Head, who lives in Falconer, N.Y., about 25 miles north of Warren, near the New York-Pennsylvania border. Head also did not immediately return a message left at the bar where she works.

The criminal complaint said Head used a customer's cell phone without his knowledge sometime between 11 p.m. Nov. 12 and 12:30 a.m. Nov. 13.

Head allegedly sent text messages using the man's phone, before using information stored in the phone — including the nude photo — to post the image on the man's Facebook page, police said.

The woman whose photo was posted used to date the phone's owner, and sent him the picture sometime before they broke up in August, police said in the complaint.

That woman told The Associated Press on Friday that Head doesn't like her because she started dating the owner of the phone after Head broke up with him.

The 21-year-old victim said she was "mortified" and "absolutely humiliated" when she saw the photo on her ex-boyfriend's Facebook page. She estimates it was posted for less than five hours. The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sex-related crimes.

The woman in the picture contacted police later the morning of Nov. 13. The man removed the photo from his Facebook page once he was alerted to it by friends who sent him angry messages, thinking he posted the photo, police said.

The man also posted an apology on his Facebook page, explaining that Head posted the photo, police said.

When police questioned the man, he told them he had forgotten his phone at the bar and returned to find Head using it to send text messages to another woman he knew. He denied posting the photo but said Head sent him a text message acknowledging she sent the photo. He didn't immediately realize it showed up on Facebook, according to the complaint.

The man has not been charged by police, and did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.

When police contacted Head, she acknowledged knowing she was being questioned about "the Facebook thing" and that "she didn't know police acted as parents also," the complaint said. When police told her posting the photo was a crime, Head asked for an attorney and refused to answer any more questions, police said.

The charge police filed is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison.

Online court records show Head used to live in Warren and is awaiting trial on a charge of drunken driving filed last year.

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Adam Jasinski (jah-ZIN'-skee), of Delray Beach, Fla., was charged last month with attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills.

He was ordered held without bail after a federal agent testified Jasinski told him he had been selling thousands of oxycodone pills every month in Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Jasinski is asking the court to release him to his parents' custody. In court documents, his lawyers say he will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet or GPS tracking device and will receive mental health and substance abuse counseling.

A hearing is scheduled Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court.

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Westmoreland County deputy coroner Gerald Fritz says 24-year-old Kevin Garland Jr., of Blairsville, died of asphyxiation Wednesday night.

Fritz says the man's grandmother found him under the car and called 911 about 7:40 p.m. He was pronounced dead at Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Jeannette about 8:30 p.m.

Jeannette is about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh.

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Forty-nine-year-old Ronald Petruney's condition was unclear. Washington police say he was taken to a hospital after the incident Wednesday, but the hospital on Friday says they had no record of him as a patient.

Police say officers tried to help Petruney during the seizure and when he walked into traffic. Police say Petruney swung at one officer and bit another at least three times. Police say Petruney has mental health issues and has bitten police before.

Police filed aggravated assault and other charges against Petruney, but it was unclear if he was in custody Friday.

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